Lokomotiv Kuban rolls to victory in Euroleague home debut

In a battle between undefeated teams in regular season Group D, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar bested Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 68-53 at home on Thursday. Lokomotiv improved to 2-0 and grabbed a win in its first-ever Turkish Airlines Euroleague home game, while Rytas dropped to 1-1. Derrick Brown paced the winners with 22 points. Richard Hendrix added 17 points plus 11 rebounds for Lokomotiv, while Marcus Williams orchestrated the attack with 9 assists - 8 of them in the first half, when his team got the lead for good. Martynas Gecevicius and Andreas Glyniadakis led Rytas with 11 points apiece. Brown and Williams shined early to give Lokomotiv a 13-3 lead, enough to keep a 19-10 margin after 10 minutes. Brown got plenty of help from Hendrix to boost the hosts' lead to 37-24 near halftime. Gecevicius shined after the break to bring the guests a bit closer, 42-34, but Lokomotiv called timeout and went on a 9-0 run, which sealed the outcome at 51-34. Rytas kept fighting, but Lokomotiv excelled on defense in the fourth quarter and had plenty of time to celebrate a big home win.

First quarter: Brown, Williams shine as Lokomotiv dominates

Lokomotiv got off to a strong start, as Gecevicius was the only player to score for Rytas in the opening five minutes. Meanwhile, Lokomotiv found go-to guys in Williams and Brown, who started to find easy points in two-on-two situations. Williams buried a mid-range jumper and Aleks Maric added a close basket but the first quarter belonged to Brown, whose easy baskets in transition allowed Lokomotiv to get its first double-digit lead, 13-3. Renaldas Seibutis came off the bench and found his first points and Stevan Jelovac added a basket, but Williams kept finding Brown for easy points and, with the help of an outstanding Sergey Bykov, allowed Lokomotiv stay way ahead, 17-7. A three-point play by Glyniadakis brought the guests a bit closer, 19-10, after 10 minutes.

Second quarter: Hosts reach the break with double-digit edge

Songaila and Renaldas Seibutis allowed Rytas to get even closer, 21-15, early in the second quarter. Andreas Glyniadakis scored down low, but a couple of driving layups by Mantas Kalnietis and consecutive fast break baskets by Brown caused Rytas to call timeout at 31-19. Songaila scored in the paint and soon added free throws to get his team closer, 31-23. Hendrix buried a five-meter jumper and free throws by Max Grigoryev restored a 35-23 margin. Gecevicius split foul shots, but a backdoor layup by Hendrix made it a 13-point game. Gecevicius did not miss from the foul line and Songaila soon got Rytas a bit closer. Hendrix took over with a one-handed alley-oop slam for a 39-27 Lokomotiv margin at halftime.

Third quarter: Lokomotiv extends comfortable lead

Simon shined with a three-point play right after the break, as Rytas kept struggling to score. The guests were held scoreless for more than two minutes until Songaila scored around the basket. Gecevicius soon added a corner triple and followed it with a fast break layup before Lokomotiv called timeout at 42-34. Williams made free throws and Lokomotiv regrouped on defense. Bykov shined with a driving layup and Brown soon made it a 14-point game. Rytas tried to change things by getting Songaila involve,d but he was double-teamed on every offense. Kalnietis split free throws and an alley-oop layup by Hendrix broke the game open, 51-34, after a 9-0 run. Rytas, now with Milenko Tepic at point guard, was scoreless for more than five minutes until Jelovac split free throws and struck from downtown. Brown scored down low. Tepic nailed a triple. Brown starred with yet another high-flying slam to give his team a 55-41 margin through three quarters.

Fourth quarter: Loko closes it out with time to spare

Brown fed Hendrix for an easy layup, but he missed the free throw that came with it. Hendrix soon added a huge alley-oop slam that forced Coach Dirk Bauermann to call timeout at 59-41 with over eight minutes left. Omar Cook tried to ignite the guests' comeback with a layup-plus-foul - his first points - and he improved on Kalnietis's free throws with a three-pointer that bounced around the rim before going in to bring his team within 61-47 midway through the fourth quarter. Lokomotiv had started to use long possessions to run the game clock down. A put-back basket by an outstanding Hendrix sealed the outcome, 64-49, with three minutes to go. Rytas could not recover, as Lokomotiv stayed focused in the final minutes and found little trouble cruising to its first-ever Euroleague home win.

Head Coaches

PASHUTIN, EVGENY

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar

"Congratulations everyone! After our loss to Lietuvos Rytas in the VTB League, we have done our homework right. Today we came out fresh and everyone was defending at 100% of his possibilities. The opponent’s shooters didn’t have open shots. This energy on the defensive end and our effort on the glass didn’t allow easy boards to the opposing team. And it also created fast break opportunities for us. In the half court we were moving the ball, no one forced anything, we played balanced offense and that made us look the same Lokomotiv that we and the fans are used to. "

BAUERMANN, DIRK

Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius

"Congratulations to Lokomotiv. They did what good teams do. They came out very strong, they were much better defensively. I thought that Kalnietis made a huge difference. I thought he played outstanding today, made great passes, and controlled the tempo of the game very well. But, you know, he’s a starter in this year’s Eurobasket finalist. And when you have a player of this caliber coming off the bench, that just shows you how strong and deep you are. "

Players

KALNIETIS, MANTAS

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar

"Congratulations to all our supporters at the first Euroleague game in Krasnodar. Comparing to the loss to Lietuvos Rytas in the VTB League on Sunday, we didn’t change too much in our tactics, but most important was our mindset and character. We played with much more energy and were focused from the first to the last minute."

SONGAILA, DARIUS

Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius

"It’s our first game on the road in Euroleague. This is a tough place to play, tough crowd. Defensively we didn’t do a good job, though looking at the score they didn’t score too much. It just wasn’t our day; there wasn’t one guy on our team that could make shots consistently. "